The end of an era
by Vag
Summary: The HumanCovenant war rages on and a Brave marine fights for his life! Plz R&R this is my first try though.
1. The end of an Era

_**The end of an era**_

Chapter 1

**0622 hours, December 24(Military Calendar)\**

**Earth, Sol system.**

Captain Leonidas stood on the bridge of his ship, the Unforgiving Mercy, and looked on as the battle raged on around him. The Covenant had warped inside the Moray minefield, directly inside the Super's MAC's kill zone. The _Unforgiving Mercy_ was a modified Halcyon-Class cruiser, had three Magnetic Accelerator Cannons (MAC), ten Archer pods, two Shiva Nuclear-tipped Missiles, a full marine contingent and ODST division.

UNSC ships were exploding by the dozen, turned into slag by giant blobs of plasma. Ghostly luminescent trails- Plasma Torpedoes- appeared all around him, melting slabs of Grade-A Titanium armor plating whenever it hit a UNSC ship. Hunks of debris floated freely around space, occasionally hitting a ship.

"Captain! The MAC guns are hot and ready to fire! "Yelled, Elli, his weapons officer from the other side of the bridge.' One of the bridge's holo tanks flashed, and showed a man, bearded and wearing a long blue-colored robe, Kendra. Kendra was the ships A.I and was a Smart A.I. Smart A.I s typically had a lifespan of 7 years, after that they would have stored too much information and would 'die'.

'Elli! Get me a firing solution and fire MAC gun 1 at that covenant frigate up ahead at my command.

"Now!" The cruiser lurched backwards as a 3000-ton ferric tungsten carbide round left the MAC gun. The extremely dense and ridiculously powerful shell penetrated the somewhat weak shielding of the frigate and punched a hole through the hull. The shell slammed into the reactor of the frigate. The reactor exploded instantly, vaporizing the ship. Before the crew could start rejoicing, a covenant destroyer's plasma turrets glowed dull orange then red and great blobs of plasma shot towards the cruiser.' Captain! Plasma is heading straight for us… impact in…10…9…8…7…" said Kendra." Wren! Give me 180 on the reactor and fire all MACs and Archers A through J at that destroyer! Kendra! Evasive maneuvers now! Wren was the main deck officer. The strong frame of the cruiser groaned as the ship spun sideways to avoid the plasma. Unfortunately, the plasma grazed the side of the ship." Sir, decks 3 through 7 are breached, sealing them now," Rose, the new trainee from the ONI training institute, shouted. Because of the war, trained officers were in shortage so most ships were crewed by fresh trainees." Damn!"Captain Leonidas swore. Every now and then, a UNSC ship would explode into a great ball of fire. Outside the ship, Sky-Hawk atmospheric fighters were chasing covenant seraph fighters. It seemed that the humans were winning. For now. Both the UNSC and Covenant were taking heavy casualties. The UNSC had lost 300 frigates, 247 destroyers, 75 cruisers and countless squadrons of fighters. On the other hand, the covenant had lost 200 destroyers and 140 frigates, 69 cruisers and countless seraphs. For a battle of this gargantuan proportions and considering the fact that covenant ships had a kill ratio of 4:1, the humans were taking light losses. "Leonidas, what do you make of this battle? "The Lieutenant, Flanders, from ONI spat. The captain was looking at the holo screens on the bridge." The battle is progressing well Flanders, "the captain curtly replied. 'Captain, all MACs are hot and ready to fire 'said Elli." Fire at will' replied the captain spinning a knife.

A subtle shift in the Unforgiving Mercy's gravity caused the knife to tip. William watched listlessly from his place on the bridge, his eyes lifeless as he sat immobile, but William's face showed signs of moisture nonetheless.Swarms of seraphs were circling the _Unforgiving Mercy_. The squadrons of Longsword interceptor could barely hold them back. The bridge crew was all ears when a COM transmission was broadcasted and crackled into earshot." Taking...fire…I can't hold them off…………they are all over me… (Static)" It was the same from all the others. The ones that could be heard that is. "Sir! Boarding parties incoming" said Kendra. "Prep all marines for combat."

The Fleet was being torn to shreds by the Covenant. The only thing keeping them from being overrun was the fact that there were hundreds of Orbital Defense Stations floating above Earth's atmosphere.

Each Orbital Defense Station was a large platform and had a Super MAC Gun. The Geosynchronous Orbital Tethers anchored the Orbital Defense Stations to cities. The platforms were held up in space and powered by ground-based generators. Every few seconds, a shell would explode from the giant barrels of the Super MACs and

At that very moment, a brilliant flash lit the dark, dreary space up. A Shiva Nuclear-tipped Missile had detonated taking with it a Covenant Flagship. Since it exploded inside the shield, the blast was magnified 100 fold. When the flash ended, the Nuke left nothing but space dust behind. With the head of the snake cut off the others started to retreat. The remaining Covenant ships powered up their thrusters and fled the battle. Slip space ruptures appeared and the ships passed into them. However, the Covenant sustained unexpected losses. The Moray Space Mine field detonated destroying any ship that was unlucky enough to be caught in the middle.

The Covenant had warped into the main battle grid at the start of the battle narrowly missing the space mines. Little explosions became big ones as the reactors of the Covenant ships exploded. With the main threat gone the Captain heaved a sigh of relief but they still had boarders to deal with.

Joe Miller was a lowly marine private. "Miller, boarding parties detected, go to the armory and gear up." Said his sergeant. "Yes Sir!" It was Joe's first battle and all new recruits thought battle was sweet but it was not so. Joe chose a M19 SSM Rocket Launcher, a BR55 Battle Rifle and took an M6c Magnum as a sidearm from the vast array of weapons. He also picked a bandolier of fragmentation grenades from the box.

M6cs were not as powerful as M6ds but they were more accurate and they still packed a punch. Joe was part of the 161st platoon, his job was to ward off boarders and to show the covenant humans are not weak push offs.

'_I shoulda fought Captain Morallis harder against bringing those two squads. They didn't need to die, especially not because of me. What the hell good am I, if I can't even protect a few Marines?'_

Morallis was his good friend and superior. Captain Morallis was in charge of the 122nd platoon and had saved Joe countless times.

Morallis had given Joe's platoon two extra squads all because of him. Joe blamed himself for the last incident where he accidentally detonated a box of fragmentation grenades and killed half his squad- the Covenant mopped up the rest of his two squads, he was the only survivor-. Morallis had saved him by speaking to Captain Giles who was in charge of the 121st platoon. Most of his platoon still blamed him for that incident.

If not for Morallis, he would probably be dead a long time by now. Joe was jerked back into reality when a squad mate shook him by the shoulders." Joe!" said Tiaan. Tiaan was his best friend; they had been friends since college." I'm okay Tiaan." John mumbled, "Thank goodness you are, or I wouldn't know what to do. Come on lets go kill some Covenant" quipped Tiaan


	2. Boarding action!

_**The end of an era**_

Chapter 2

Joe charged into the fray, not caring about his safety. Plasma bolts pinged off his M52B ceramic-alloy plated battle armor doing little harm to his body. His chest armor plate hissed as it cooled rapidly.

Instacrete barricades had been placed along the mess hall for cover. Though instacrete dried quickly, the barricades were not fully dry. When they were full dried, they barricades could stand up even to a hunter's fuel rod cannon blast.Just as he was preparing to fire a rocket at a hunter who was taking pot shots at marines with its gigantic and seemingly impervious shield, a group of grunts and a Golden Zealot wielding an Energy Sword burst into the mess hall from the door to his left.

Though he had never encountered an elite wielding an energy sword before, there were tales that it could decapitate a human with one swipe. The Zealot took a swipe at the nearest marine severing the torso from the rest of the marine's body. Though the body was severed and mangled, there was not much blood because the sleek blade immediately cauterized the wound. Joe immediately concentrated his fire on the Zealot. The Zealot roared in frustration as the bullets, specially modified armor piercing 7.65mm bullets, struck an invisible barrier that was its shield. Its shield flickered but held.

The Zealot charged at Joe. One second before Joe was in range of the sword, a green armored hand holding an M90 shotgun shot a round at the rampaging elite. The intensely strong slug blew the elite backwards. The owner of the hand quickly shot another round at the elite. It was a headshot!

Joe looked up and saw a Spartan II clad in MJOLNIR Mark VI Battle Armor. It had black alloy plates that were luminescent and glowed green. The Spartan was easily 7ft tall. A giant! "Thought you needed some help." The Spartan had a warm and calming voice despite his voluminous stature. "Thanks."

It was Spartan-104, Fred. Fred saw a figure moving stealthily across the room through his polarized HUD. He shot a round at the figure and it confirmed his suspicion. It was cloaking elite!

He quickly strode over to where the elite was and the elite thinking that the Spartan could not see him, stood still. Fred's hand balled into a fist, his knuckles white, and punched the elite. The elite's skull caved in killing it instantly." Come on, lets clear this ship of covy asses," Fred said to Joe.

Together they cleared most of the ship; only one large room was left. It was packed to the gills with covenant. There were dozens of Elites and Grunts inside the room. Fred quickly tossed in a belt of plasma grenades he found on a dead grunt, and then quickly took cover behind Titanium-A bulkhead.

The grenades exploded taking out half of the covenant before they knew what hit them. It started with the grenades exploding and then it caused the grunts' methane tanks to explode. The grunts' tanks turned them into exploding fragmentation grenades.

When Joe sneaked a peek, all that was left were a handful of grunts and elites. The other entire covenant was nothing but charred meat still sizzling from the heat.

Fred strutted into the room carrying a M19 SSM Rocket Launcher. He fired off four rockets in rapid succession. M19 SSM Rocket Launchers were used to confuse rather than destroy the enemy. They could lock onto vehicles like Ghosts and Banshees. He then double wielded M7/caseless Sub-Machine Guns and started spraying the room with bullets.

The grunts started shouting "the demon is here!" and ran in circles. The Sangheilli shot plasma bolts at him, many of which missed. One foolish grunt came too close. Fred effortlessly kicked him away. Fred took out the elites and grunts.

Just when he was about to run out of ammo, a pair of hunters charged into the room. At the sight of the blood, the hunters charged at Fred and swiped at him with his shield. Fred, caught unaware, did not dodge. The swipe sent the half-ton of man and machine flying away and crashed into a wall. He did not get up.

It was up to Joe. Joe quickly switched to his Magnums and shot the hunters' unprotected back when their backs were turned. Orange blood poured out from the wounds. The hunters slumped to the ground. Dead.

Joe quickly ran over to the injured Spartan. Fred was in a bad shape. His body was aching all over. Pain coursed through his veins. He could barely stay conscious and the adrenaline from the battle was the only thing keeping him awake.

Luckily, his suit quickly administered morphine to him to lessen the Pain. Spartan training had made them the toughest soldiers in the human army but this pain, this very pain was excruciating, beyond anything he had ever felt. He felt his vision clear and saw stars in front of him.

For one second, he thought it was his suit that was malfunctioning but he then realized that it was his body that was malfunctioning. "Fred! Can you hear me? Wake up soldier! That is an order Spartan!" Fred shook his head to clear the stars and then said, "I'm fine." "Are you sure?" "Yeah, I'm alright."

Joe helped the heavy Spartan to his feet. His muscles ached with every step and his calves were on fire. He shuddered to think what would happen if he let go. "Come on Spartan, Haul ass to the Infirmary!"

After a long journey of compassing three decks, they finally reached the Infirmary or infirmary. Fred lay on the stretcher. "Whoa! What have you been doing?" with that, the medic took out a portable scanner and read out Fred's injuries.

"Crushed ribs, punctured lungs, broken femur and a dislocated arm. A lesser man would surely have died out of that many injuries, not to mention slight concussion and a slipped disc."

Joe left the Infirmary for the mess hall for two reasons, to let the medic tend to Fred and his stomach was growling. Joe queued up like the other marines did for their food. After a long wait, it finally came to his turn. The Chef issued him a grey mucky bowl of gruel. It was a staple in the marines.

Joe stared at the sloppy muck that was his dinner losing all his appetite immediately.

"Mind if I sit here?" asked a female marine. The female marine was a beauty. She had long luscious rolls of brown and black hair. If not for the war, she could be a model.

"Yeah, it's empty." "Thanks. " Don't mention it, its okay." "What's your name, mines Janissary James but people call me Jan." "I'm Joe. Joe Miller." They chatted for the rest of the break.

Joe was attracted to Jan immediately. Her pear-shaped figure and smooth curves. She reminded him of his ex-girlfriend on Antiga-Prime. She died when it was glassed by the covenant. Joe was one of lucky ones; he had been in space on the UNSC Radeon and had escaped unscathed apart from some emotional wounds. Eventually, time healed those wounds. That was 3 years ago.

The Next morning,

Joe awoke to find himself on his bed. Jan snuggling warmly beside him. He gave Jan a little kiss then dressed himself. Before he left the room, he wrote a note to Jan._ Your breakfast is on the table, I am heading to the Infirmary to check up on the Spartan._

Joe perambulated into the Infirmary, his rifle slung on his shoulder. He greeted the medic with a wave of his hand and strode over to Fred's bed. "Your friend here is lucky he has a fast recovery rate, he'll be up in no time," the medic said.

"How are you feeling, Fred?" Though they had only known each other for a brief period, they had become firm friends. "Sup Joe, I won't die on ya before u return my favor, I still don't feel safe on this metal piece of creak shit!" said Fred. All Spartans had the same type of mentality; they hated working in space with no dirt under their shoes. A smile came to Joe's face. He gave a mirthless chuckle.

"Hey Fred, I gotta go. I owe ya one."

"Bye!"

Joe quickly walked out of the infirmary. On his way to the briefing room, a person wearing a military officer's suit spoke to him. "Joe miller is it? Follow me.". Out of respect for the officer, Joe saluted him and the officer returned the salute. Joe stole a glance at the suit and saw medals and badges festooning the suit. The stripes and Badges showed that the officer was a colonel. He led Joe to a room that was similar to the briefing room.

Some twenty ODSTs were inside the room. They were wearing jet-black armor with polarized visors. ODST armor was denser than normal marine armor and could take more punishment. Unlike standard issue marine armor, it covered the entire body, giving the wearer maximum protection. Like marine armor, it dissipated heart very quickly making it the second best armor. The only better armor being the MJOLNIR Armor that Spartans wore. ODSTs hated Spartans and called them "freaks".

Without further ado, the Colonel began briefing the soldiers. "Everyone here has been selected for my special program. All of you troopers here will undergo a special treatment. It will make you stronger; have faster reflexes, to cut a long story short, you will become Spartan 3s!


	3. SpartanIIIs?

**The end of an era**

Chapter 3

Joe stared at the Colonel, only now did he realize it was actually Colonel Ackerson. He was known for his not so secret projects that were supposed to save humanity. Joe could see the shock of the ODSTs through their visors. No one flinched. Joe was actually going to turn into a super soldier like the Master Chief Spartan-117.

Finally, Ackerson broke the silence. "You will all be sent to a top-secret ONI facility, your drop ships are fueled and ready to go. I want all of you in the Landing Bay 60 seconds ago." "Haul ass to the Landing Bay troopers," an ODST sergeant shouted. Though the others had not yet recovered from the shock, they complied.

In the Landing Bay, two D77-TC Pelicans waited for them. The marine and ODSTs loaded up and the Pelicans left. Joe stared at the ODSTs as the Pelican entered Earth's atmosphere. Joe stared out of the port window and saw their destination, High COM Facility Bravo-6.

It was a massive structure. Machine Gun emplacements studded the perimeter and Thick slabs of Titanium-A and rock covered the main facility underground. The main facility nicknamed the Hive, was three-kilometers below the surface and reinforced with massive blast plating, anti-EMP armor, and three-kilometers of solid rock.

Small little figures that were marines scrambled all around the structure. The scale of the High COM Facility Bravo-6 was so huge that it could be seen even from the Pelican's great height. M808B Scorpion MBTs littered the entire ground; there must have been hundreds of them that were deployed. The pelican finally came to rest on an Instacrete landing platform.

The ODSTs got out and Joe followed suit. There were dozens of Field Medical tents and soldiers carried the wounded on stretchers. A marine led them to a 1 metre-thick blast door and opened it by sliding his card across the scanner. The door slid close after they passed through it. The marine led them to some sort of medical room and then left.

"Ahh… the Spartan-111s…Come here all of you…...lie down on the bed." The Doctor, Jenkins, said. The doctor and her assistant administered anesthetics to the soldiers sending them into deep sleep.

_**3 days later**_

Joe woke up abruptly. He felt his body spasm as he got used to his new body. "Doctor, this one is awake!" an assistant spoke excitedly. "This one will do great things in future..." The Jenkins spoke. Joe let his sleep carry him away and lapsed once again into deep sleep.

_**1 day later**_

****Joe woke up and rubbed his eyes. He no longer felt weird in his newly modified body. He flexed his muscles, enjoying his newfound strength. Joe looked around and found that only 8 of the 20 ODSTs he came with were in the room. He assumed the others were dead. "Hello Joe. You will accomplish great things in future. But for now, you must rest." Joe closed his eyes and fell asleep for the second time.

"Doctor, we have checked him. His body is functioning properly, in fact, he's the healthiest among the group." Whispered an assistant, in front of Joe's bed. "O, he'll turn out as a great warrior, I have checked Halsey's medical logs and none of the first generation Spartans was as fit as this tough bloke over here, I would have made him an ODST if I were an ONI officer. " spoke Jenkins softly, barely audible.

_**2 days later**_

Joe had begun his training with the other ODST. He felt much stronger now and according to Jenkins, the survivors of the "treatment" were stronger than the Spartan-11s. Theoretically, Joe could lift a M808B Scorpion MBT without much trouble though he had yet to try that. CPO Mendez, the trainer of the old Spartans, who put them on a strict training regime, was training the new Spartans.

They were having a HELL of a time. Their typical "normal" day went like this. They would wake up at 5:30am, and then have breakfast at 5:40am. After breakfast they would go on 10km runs around the facility, once they were winded they stopped and went to the obstacle course. They would then go to the firing range to shoot some paper targets. It was the same old monotonous routine for everyday.

**_3 months later_**

****Giant muscle bulged out of his big strong arms. Joe was ready for combat as were the others. It was the end of their training and they would finally get to see some action. The day where they would be presented with their armor had come. Joe waited anxiously in the headquarters of ONI. Joe and his squad-mates walked into the armory, fists clenched in excitement. His stomach churned with every step he took.

The Spartan armor that was in front of him was extremely different from what he had though it would be. "Spartans lets get you in your new armor, "the scientist bellowed pointing to 9 suits of black armor.

The armor was a marvelous thing. "Come; come ill show you your new armor." The armor was Jet-black in color and was fully sealed. The armor was code-named, MJONIR-X and was extremely light. Its design was very different from the original, bulky MJONIR armor. It was sleep with smooth curves.

"Marvelous? Isn't it? It has a shield that withstand 10 Fuel Rod Cannon rounds or 10 rockets before overloading, it can take a lot of punishment and will not overload even after 4 swipes with the Plasma Sword. The main body of the armor is made of an alloy called Vergium and is 1000 times tougher than diamond. It is also extremely dense and light. The armor also enhances your reflexes by 48 times and your speed by 80km/h. This suit is meant for stealth and speed rather than for conventional combat and has a camouflage drive that can keep you camouflaged for an infinite amount of time."

"There is one more point to be noted, it comes with a Smart A.I that will not "die"." Muttered the scientist.

Joe stood in awe. "What are all waiting for? Go put it on!" spat the scientist. Joe stood in front of the suit and waited for the ONI technicians to finish putting the armor on him. Joe watched the armor being put on bit by bit noticing the contours of the suit. It fit him perfectly! Joe looked up and saw himself staring into a HUD. It contained all sort of useful information.

Joe marveled at the number of sensors he had. The suit had infrared sensors, motion sensors, altitude sensor, air sensor, temperature sensor and dozens more. "Hello!" sounded a voice that came from a corner of the Helmet.

"Nice suit eh…" a quirky voice said. " Hi I'm Coralla, Cortana; A.I of the Spartan-117 is my sister." Joe enjoyed the brief introduction and felt that the A.I was more important than any part of the armor as two brains were better than one.

Joe spoke softly as he walked along the dull grey Titanium-A corridors leading to the briefing room. Soon, he arrived at the briefing room. It had a 2-metre thick bulkhead door and was clearly for high-ranking officers to plan battles. Joe stepped in.

"Spartan!" a certain Major General Nicolas Strauss snapped. "Sir!" Joe said, saluting the General." At ease, Spartan. I've a mission for you." Handing Joe a badge with a UNSC Insigne. Joe realized he had just been promoted to Lieutenant Corporal, commander of the Spartans. "Now about the mission, you and your team will infiltrate a covenant frigate in the Epsilon Eridani system. Your mission is the same as the first Spartans, find out the Elite home world's coordinates, plant a NOVA nuke on it and get the hell out of there. The super-carrier _Trafalgar _will escort you and your team there. Your pelican will on the landing pad fueled and ready to leave, go and may god bless you." "Yes Sir!" Joe said.

Joe could barely contain his excitement. He was finally going to be able to test his suit out. Coralla could not help but noticed his slowly but steadily increasing heart beat rate. "Nervous eh….."Said Coralla as he "jogged" to the landing pad with his team. Joe just could not stop feeling edgy as he and his team drew inexorably closer to danger. He wondered how Fred was.

To his surprise, Fred was standing on the instacrete-landing pad, smiling as Joe approached it. "Hey Joe, heard you became a Spartan eh…..I'm coming along with you, to guard your clumsy ass." Fred

**_1990 hours, Super-Carrier Trafalgar, Epsilon Eridani system, 6 January (Military Calendar)\ _**

****Joe looked out the window, outside was the nothingness of space, stars glittered all around him. "Joe, time to go," Fred said softly tapping Joe on the shoulder. "We're there aren't we?

"We are let's go gear up before Strauss screams at us."

Joe strode into the carrier's landing bay; dozens of mechanics were repairing Longsword fighters and Pelicans, his team spread out behind him. They were armed to the teeth and had the new Metal-Storm cannons that could shoot one million bullets per minute and the firing rate was so fast that it would seem that it was shooting water unless you had enhanced vision.

Joe gripped the handhold of the Pelican tightly. His team members did the same. The Pelican levitated above the Titanium-A floor of the landing bay, tilted towards the exit and soared off into space.

Almost immediately, two Longsword interceptors flew out of the landing bay escorting the Pelican by its wings. Joe checked his bio-monitor at the top of his left hand HUD. The Spartans' heart rate, though it was their first mission together, was stable but the pilot, Major Tifton's heart rate was shooting like an assault rifle.

"Hold on! We're docking!" said Tifton.

The Trafalgar warped out of the system back to Earth but not before shooting a MAC round at the Covenant frigate to take out its shields. Now that the Covenant had found Earth, the Cole Protocol did not apply anymore. The Pelican docked in the landing bay of the Covenant only to find an entrenched enemy. There were Hundreds of brutes, Jackals and Drones but the usual complement of Elites, Grunts and Hunters were nowhere to be found.

"Go Go Go!" Joe screamed at the top of his lungs as they piled out of the Pelicans.

Joe and his team took cover behind a Covenant weaponry crate. It was bristling with weaponry." Show these bastards our shit!" Joe yelled over the COM. The Spartans unleashed the bullets they had tearing the entire Covenant to shred. Joe had battle lust and did not stop despite the pain of the Plasma bolts zinging paste him and some hitting him. Even the barricades made of the extremely strong Alien Metal could not withstand the sheer power of a Million armor-piercing bullets. "Conserve ammo team!" Joe said.

It was hard to conserve ammo when your gun shot a million rounds per minute. Joe checked his ammo counter and it read 8750000. The rest of his team also had similar figures. "It uses a lot of ammo eh?" "Joe, put me on that pedestal over there. I'll get you the ship's Schematics." Coralla said as a NAV marker appeared on Joe's HUD.

Joe strode over to the pedestal and removed the crystal data chip from the slot on his helmet. Almost instantly, A Holographic figure appeared, its body made of code. "I've uploaded the topography of the area, Joe I suggest you split your team into two, one to clear the ship and the other to take the bridge."

Joe did that. He was to lead the bridge clearance and Fred the other. "Fred, you're team gamma and I'm Alpha. You are to clear the ship and I'll clear the bridge, inform me of new developments via COM, good luck and may god speed your return."


	4. Humans fight back

Chapter 4

It had been hours since Joe last contacted Team Gamma. Team Alpha had taken the bridge relatively easily encountering only minor pockets of resistance. Joe wondered if Gamma was having any progress and if they had the same luck.

"Gamma, come in."

"I read you loud and clear Alpha."

"What's your status Gamma?"

"No serious casualty apart from a few bruises, over."

"Copy that"

Joe heaved a sigh of relief, Gamma was fine. Just then, the COM crackled into life with a little static. "Going down……taking heavy fire…….Milton, suppression fire…." Joe checked his tracker; Gamma was in Section 148-A on Deck 7. Team Gamma was obviously having trouble now.

_So that's where they all went, Joe thought._

"Move Spartans, we gotta head down to Section 148-A to save their asses. GO GO GO!"

Joe's hands trembled with every step. His brothers, the Spartans, were being cut down by the Covenant. Fred's team consisted of three Spartans, himself, Geoffrey and Leofric. Three Spartans against the bulk of the ship's fighting crew were not good odds. Joe then knew why they were facing so little resistance- most of the Covenant were inside Section 148-A. Even three Spartans wielding Metal-Storm cannons were not much of a match against approximately 700 Covenant. The odds of survival were low, very low.

"How far to 148 Coralla?"

"1 kilometre, Sir!"

Joe knew they had to move faster lest Fred turn into sizzling meat. Joe increased his pace, his servomotors whining in protest because of the sudden and abrupt acceleration.

"Sir! Sergeant Johnson gave me this baby to play with." Said Spartan-302 brandishing a Fury Tactical Nuke and motioning towards it.

Fury Tac-Nukes had a blast radius of 1.2km and were the size of a football. It was the closest thing to a nuclear grenade.

"Would you mind giving me that?"

"No problem, Sir!"

Joe and his team of Spartans stepped into the large room. It was so vast that it could not be called a room. To be precise, it was more of a large compartment that could fit 100 M12A1 LAAV Warthogs.

He immediately came under heavy fire. Plasma bolts pinged off his luminous green armor. His team let loose with their Metal-Storm cannons massacring groups of brutes. Dozens of brutes charged at the Spartans but were mowed down before they could even go close. Bullets exploded out the furry hides of the brutes. Blood splattered everywhere.

"Coralla give me a scan of the surrounding and find Fred!"

"Done. Life-signs detected." Three additional health readings appeared on Joe's HUD and one had low vital signs. There were too many brutes and jackals and Joe could not hold them off for too long as they were running low on ammo.

"Dammit, Ok, everyone take cover!"

"Fire in the hole!"

Joe tossed the nuke into the middle of the room. The Spartans crouched outside the blast doors of the room. Suddenly, a brilliant flash lit up the room. The nuke was a powerful weapon destroying all in its path. The alien-metal bulkheads had taken most of the damage and were turned into great pools of red, hot molten metal. However, even with the bulkheads, the Spartans' shields were drained. The EMP had also fried most of their equipment making them useless except for the armor as it was protected by the shield from the destructive power of the EMP.

"Is everyone alright?" Joe called out.

"301 here."

"302"

"303"

"304"

"305"

"104"

"307"

"Where is 306? We lost him?" Joe said.

Spartans were supposed to be "invincible" but after seeing what had happened, they were far from that. The six remaining Spartans went back into the room to look at the aftermath. The Nuke had vaporized everything in the room leaving nothing left. The walls were coated with scorch marks that reminded Joe of the past battle.

"OK team, the ship is clear, let's get back to Earth!"

Joe brought his team back to the bridge. Fred limped with every step, he winced in pain as they slowly but gradually reached the bridge.

"Coralla! Download the information about the Covenant home world; we'll give them a little present."

Unlike her older sister, Cortana, that had followed the Master Chief on his escapades, she did not have a limited life span. She had an infinite amount of memory, allowing her to download as much data as she pleased.

"Set a plot for Earth, Caboose!" Bellowed Joe

"Affirmative."

Spartan-302 Caboose was the in-house techno-whiz and explosive expert. Give him a C-10 explosive and he could demolish anything short of Titanium-A wall.

"I had to unencrypt the files, for covenant files they were encrypted very well and they had worked hard to seal the files."

Coralla, like Cortana, had been loaded with every single dirty trick ONI had for cracking and hacking of files.

"Spartan-300, Joe, Sir! The ship will warp on your command"

"Warp at Will"

_**1904 hours, Slip space, (Military Calendar)\**_

****Joe wiped off the beads of perspiration from his forehead. It had been hours since they left the Epsilon Eridani system. The Spartans had been sent on patrol duty to wipe out the last pockets of resistance. Joe checked the Holo-panel in front of his chair, on it read "ETA 13 Minutes"

Soon they reached the Sol system. Of the battered fleet they had left

Was just free debris floating around in space. Small and large chunks of Titanium-A cruiser-grade plating floated around in space bouncing off their shields. In front of them, the remains of the once proud Orbital Defense Fleet flew wildly around in space knocking into any ship that had the misfortune of crashing into it.

"What happened Coralla?"

"Hmm…seems that those cocky Covenant bastards took out our fleet while we were gone."

"Analyze the remains and see if you can locate the Unforgiving Mercy."

"Scanning….Passive Scanners active…..Active Scanners active…"

"Is it in there?" Joe inquired pointing to the newly created asteroid belt that was held together by the Earth gravity

"No...Not there…Passive Scans have concluded that the Unforgiving Mercy had escaped"

Joe heaved a sigh of relief. Jan was on the ship.

"Unidentified ship, identify yourself or be fire upon"

"This is Lance Corporal Joe Miller; we're here on level 10 security clearance"

"Copy that Miller. You may land on Highcom Bravo-6's Landing pad one."

"Roger that"

**_2104 hours, HighCom Facility Bravo-6 Briefing Room One, (Military Calendar)\_**

It was a few hours after the landing and Joe's stomach growled with hunger. "Miller! I heard of your apparent success on the ship. Well I have another mission for you and your team in light of your recent success. You are to support the last remaining Halsey "freak", Spartan-117 aka the Master Chief." Spoke Ackerson in a low, dark tone as he slipped Joe an envelope that contained the details of the mission.

Joe sifted through the thick stack information in front of him. Apparently, he and his team were to head down to New Freedom, the last remaining Human stronghold that had not been found by the Covenant, assist the Master Chief and their newfound "allies".

The new allies were named Roain. After much debate and argument, the scientists concluded that they were taken away from Earth millions of years ago by an extremely advanced race named the Forerunner. The Forerunners had disappeared leaving the Roain to fend for themselves. It seemed that the Roain were the guardians of the universe, genetically altered to be resistant to the flood but in all of aspects similar to the normal Earthlings. As they were once the Forerunners' pet race, they had highly advanced ships that were capable in tearing up Covenant fleets and were decades ahead in terms of technology compared to the Humans. The Roain had also been genetically altered to the point that some of them were potent telepaths and all of them could receive and transmit messages to each other. Although both the Roain and Humans were made by controlled evolution, the Roain were truly the pinnacle of the Forerunners' success. They had been "found" by a certain Captain named Wren who obviously was a Military genius. He was the captain of the same ship that had saved Joe from near-death, the UNSC RADEON.

"So the only reason they haven't wiped us out yet is because the Roain is giving them trouble?" asked Joe, trying to put it as eloquently as his beleaguered and annoyed mind could make it.

"Yes in a way and no, there is much dissension in the Elite High Council as our spies have shown us." Replied Ackerson.

"When do we leave?" Joe asked confidently.

"Now!"

Joe assembled his team."301,302,303,304,305,307,104" Joe called out. They were all present. He brought his team to the armory where he chose an S2am Sniper Rifle with 15mm Discarding Sabot rounds, the usual bandolier of grenades and his new favorite Metal Storm Canon.

The Spartans walked into the Reaver Transport ship. Reavers were the standard mode of transport for Higher-ups. They had enough space for 12 incredibly heavy-armed Spartans and their gear. They quickly stowed their gear by the side leaving only their Metal Storm canons on their hands. The Reaver accelerated rapidly and warped into space carrying the Heavy Spartans.

"Hang tight Spartans, it's gonna be a bumpy ride!" yell Major Rick over the Cabin Com.

Without the Magnetic Coils that functioned as seatbelts, even a Spartan could not survive the journey and transition into slip space. Joe hung on tight for his life. True enough, it was a bumpy ride but soon and thanks to the invention of the Shaw-Fugikawa slip space engines, they reached New Freedom safely.

Upon his landing. Joe was led to a vast underground chamber. There both Human and Roain worked non-stop to build ships. There were rows upon rows of unfinished frigates, destroyers, cruisers and the occasional flagship. There were also a handful of almost completed Thunderhead Platforms.

The platforms were designed for orbital bombardment and could function as makeshift orbital defense stations to guard important colonies. They were supposed to be towed by cruisers to the enemy colony and could rain hails of fiery death on enemies weakening their ground defenses. They had 8 MAGs, 18 Macs and a heavy archer rack of nearly 1000 missiles. MAGs were like MACs but exchanged firepower for accuracy, in other words it was a Machine Gun for a MAC.

There were also the new Manta-class cruisers. Those cruisers were equipped with carbon splitters which broke down armor from its inside by splitting the atoms one by one. It all happened and ended in a millisecond. They also were equipped with standard MACs and Ion cannons, two of each. They were not equipped with archers pods but instead had the new and untested Fission Drivers, which were missiles that had nuclear payloads designed to detonate when it hit the reactors. They were guided by special guidance A.Is that were extremely accurate and always preferred hitting the reactors.

Joe was greeted by a Marine wielding a Br55 battle rifle. "Sir, this way!" the Marine said leading Joe to a room. The room was obviously the Control Centre of the chamber. Two battle-hardened ODSTs were standing guard at the door, which happened to be a 0.8-metre thick reinforced Titanium-A door.

The marine slid a card through the sensor and looked at the scanner. The iris biometric scanner cross-matched his iris with the one in its records and promptly released the metal bars which then allowed the door to be slid open.

"Ahh...Joe I see you made it!" quipped a voice from the corner of the room. The stuff inside was fully utilitarian, made only for functionality not for aesthetic purposes. It was Captain Wren!

"Beautiful isn't it? That," said Wren pointing to the unfinished but still mighty fleet seen through the reinforced glass window. "It is," replied Joe. He owed his life to Wren and was prepared to do anything for him. "It has been only a few years and so much about you has changed," spoke Wren in his soft voice.

"You can come out now Jace and Toz" his voice ever so light but still stern. "How did you know we were cloaking behind you, Sir?" asked Jace. "Your breathing gives all away." Came the reply. "Now I want you to meet Joe, Joe meet Jace, Jace and Toz are both soltaris, the Roain equivalent of our Spartans."

Joe shook Jace's hand and swelled with pride. He finally met the Roain. Soltaris were trained from the tender age of four until they were 25. From 4 to 15 they were taught the basics of combat then from 16 until 25 they learned every method of killing the enemy as silently as possible.

"Now about the mission….." said Wren.

Joe, his team, the soltaris and the Master Chief were to assault a Covenant flagship that was currently controlled by a minor prophet. They would then download the coordinates for the Elite home world, the only planet that they still did not know the location, and destroy the Elites' by anyway possible. The only problem was the flagship's escort, an entire covenant armada consisting of 18 frigates, 10 destroyers and 3 cruisers.

Joe peered out of the glass window. The workers were like little ants, hurrying along in every direction possible. New Freedom was a splore colony meaning its main purpose was to make ships for ONI. It had a population of 8 billion, all workers and UNSC and ONI personnel.

Super-Flagship UNSC Char, in orbit over New Freedom

"Yes, Admiral, I will escort the Spartans to the Covenant flagship. Giles out," Admiral Giles said lightly. The holo-screen then flashed black. He had been speaking to 1st Admiral Yamato who was back on Earth and was in charge of its defense. Giles knew the mission would be wrought with danger at every turn but still, he took it. He looked at his magnificent ship. His ship was a tough 'bitch' to take down. It was the first of the new line of ships, the Ancillary class and had 7 MACs, 30 Archer pods, 10 MAGs and 3 ion cannons built from the technology that the Roain had spared. It also had new shield drives and massive reactors that were needed to power the insanely powerful shield drives. The shield drives were so powerful that it would take 40 plasma turrets 3 hours to drain it to 0.

"Admiral, the Spartans are aboard! Commencing reactor and shipwide shakedown, weapons deployment systems nominal!" said his weapons officer, Gyrull. "Prep slipspace drives and Shaw-Fugikawa engine!" spoke Giles to his engines officer, Altair. A portal opened in front of the Char and the Char disappeared into it.

"What's our status, Altair?" asked Giles impatiently. "ETA, 13 mins, sir!" replied Altair. Giles was bored. "Sir, I'm detecting a Covenant fleet waiting for us at the other end! Prepping all systems for combat!" said Palador, the sensor and communications officer. "General Quarters!" spoke Giles calmly. He was finally going to see some action!

A hole was torn open in front of the Char and the Char passed through. An entire covenant battle fleet was waiting for them. "Sir, taking heavy fire, shields holding at 89!" said Gyrull. "Fire MACs 1-5 at that Covenant heavy cruiser I want it limping! Save MACs 6 and 7 for the frigates! Aim and fire at designated targets now!" said Giles.

Every Ferric Tungsten Carbide shell flew true to its target as if propelled by an invisible hand. The 5 shells thudded into the carrier taking out its shields and breaching its decks. Holes appeared at where the shells went through and the carrier started to vent atmosphere. "That's carrier is disabled now. It is now dead in the water. Fire all MAGs and MACs at their respective targets! Fire the ion cannons at the destroyers, they're tearing us to bits!" yelled Giles his face writhed in anger.

"Sir! Shields down to 47, we're taking too many hits from the covenant!" said Gyrull. "We'll show them who's boss! Arm the NOVA nuke!" said Giles as he grinned. A NOVA was made out of ten nukes strung in a circle. The special arrangement increased the blast radius by 30-fold.

The NOVA sailed out the Char and towards the covenant fleet. It exploded in the middle of the fleet obliterating the frigates with weaker shielding compared to the other ships. The EMP from the blast fried pretty much every ship that was not vaporized by the initial blast including the heavy cruiser. It cleared off the left and right flanks. Of the 112 ships the Covenant had at the start of the battle, only 14 battered ones including the heavy carrier were left. The NOVA had cleared off over 80 ships!

Cool blue bursts of plasma flew past the Char. Its 'smart-screen' glass panels readjusted to compensate for the sudden blinding burst of light. "Time to test our new baby, deploy the Fracture-pulse drones!" said Giles with a smug smirk on his face. The Fracture-pulse drones, in theory, could crack armor like a nutcracker cracking nuts. They sent out waves of concentrated radio waves at ultra high frequencies, so high that they could crack and split armor open.

As expected, the Covenants' ships popped like balloons being stabbed with a pin. The ships vented atmosphere and the explosive decompression killed off the crew. Giles did not have to destroy the ships. He only needed to kill off enough of the crew to disable the ships.

The surviving ships fled from the scene without even looking back to check on the ships. The other Human ships appeared from the warp portal only to find smoking wrecks and carcasses. "Deploy the teams to salvage the Navi-drives of the covenant!" said Giles. Three pelicans flew out from the hangar of the Char. Not a moment too soon, they brought back two almost 100 intact Navi-drives. The drives contained everything they needed. The information inside was uploaded to the Navi-core of the Char, the Spartans and every ship in range.

A copy was also beamed back to Earth via E-M. Giles said with a look sadness, "Thaw the Spartans, they have a mission to accomplish!"

_**END OF CHAPTER 4**_


End file.
